Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw at Traps Lounge in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw at Traps Lounge in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

Traps Lounge at Pebble Beach is 20 to 30 minutes away from my home in Salinas, California depending on traffic. 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I went out for an informal meal at Florence’s Pebble Beach locals' hangout. 

Traps shares a kitchen with Pèppoli, Pebble Beach’s Michelin-starred Italian restaurant. So, the bar nibbles at Traps are pretty stellar, especially the spaghetti Bolognese, which is made with chopped sirloin, fennel-flavored Italian sausage, and tomato ragù sauce. Laurent likes that dish and is very pleased with the flavor and nutrition, which give him glowing pink cheeks. 

Florence likes the California Club Sandwich made with turkey slices, smoked bacon, and slices of avocado with French fries on the side. 

I like the Southern favorite pulled pork sliders. For this recipe, pork shoulder gets an all over dry rub of spices like brown sugar, paprika, and garlic powder before slow roasting till the meat easily pulls apart with forks. 

Once pulled apart, the pork meat is mixed with barbecue sauce and put in sandwiches. At Traps, they serve this sandwich like they do in the South on house-made brioche buns with a scoop of creamy coleslaw made with cabbage, onion, and carrots on top of the meat with a side of fries. The pulled pork sandwiches come three to an order at Traps. I thought they were a very good choice for $22 the day I went. (See online menu for any price changes.) 

For a nice meal with a full bar at your service in plush surroundings with a fireplace, Traps Lounge in Pebble Beach, California offers satisfying food, football games and golf matches playing on different TVs with no sound, and music to vacationers and tourists alike. 

Bon appétit! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Shrimp Broccoli Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Broccoli Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite Chinese-food-as-medicine dishes is shrimp broccoli stir-fry. I recently tried the Golden Star version of this dish in Salinas, California and feel that I have a Vitamin C booster for the 2026 New Year. 

One of the reasons I find Chinese stir fry to be healthy is that the Chinese start out a stir fry with hot oil that they season with fresh ginger and garlic and sometimes onions and red pepper before adding in vegetables and protein like broccoli and shrimp in the dish I tried. 

What makes this stir fry delicious is they savory sauce made generally of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, and corn starch (for the sheen appearance), which can be a sauce for rice as well as the main ingredients. 

Broccoli is a low-calorie food packed with fiber; vitamins C, K, and A: potassium, and antioxidants. I like the flavor of this super food. 

Shrimp is also good for you if eaten in moderation. It contains vitamins B12 and D; the minerals selenium, phosphorous, and zinc; and antioxidants. It is hard to believe that something this delicious is good for you in moderation. (It has high salt and cholesterol content.) 

The flavor and quantity of the shrimp broccoli was very good. If you like shrimp, you would probably like this dish. Golden star offers versions of this dish with beef and chicken as well. 

Golden Star is located on Main Street in downtown Salinas, California with a large parking lot in back next to Compass Church. You have to go down a short passage from the parking lot to the front of the restaurant on Main Street to pick up your food. 

What I really like about Golden Star is that it is about 5 minutes from my home in Salinas, California, making picking up take-out Chinese food easy. I also like it that their extensive menu is available all day. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Kouign-Amann Butter Cakes from Brittany, France at Trader Joe's in Marina, California by Ruth Paget

Kouign-Amann Butter Cakes from Brittany, France at Trader Joe’s in Marina, California by Ruth Paget 

This past weekend, my family did not eat chocolate croissants on Saturday like usual. Instead, my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I ate individual, warm, butter cakes from Brittany located in northwestern France called kouign-amann (pronounced koonya mon) that we bought at Trader Joe’s in Marina, California. 

These easy to eat Celtic cakes with a short list of ingredients require time, technique, and patience to make which is probably why Trader Joe’s stepped in to make them.

I looked through a small recipe book that I bought in France called Les Meilleures Recettes Bretonnes (The Best Breton Recipes) by Brigitte and Jean-Pierre Perrin-Chattard for a recipe. These delicious cakes are made with: 

-flour 

-salted butter 

-powdered sugar 

-yeast 

-salt 

-egg yolk 

-water 

To make the cake, you make a dough that rises once and then two more times after being turned over itself and turned like croissant dough, but on a thicker and larger scale. 

If you have patience, you can save money making these treats.

However, the Trader Joe’s version is much fancier. The cakes come in individual ridged baking papers that can go in the oven for heating. The kouign-amann cales look elegant with mugs of coffee, orange juice, and drinkable yogurt. 

For a weekend treat, the kouign-amann butter cakes from Brittany, France at Trader Joe’s in Marina, France might be a nice break from croissants for you. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Shrimp Boiler Bags at Bag O'Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Boiler Bags at Bag O’Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Cold weather in Salinas, California always makes me want to eat seafood at one of our local seafood restaurants like Bag O’Crab, a chain restaurant specializing in spicy, Cajun seafood from Louisiana. 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I picked up a seafood lunch to fill up on iodine and flavor in the rainy, cold (low 40s) weather, which I think makes seafood taste better. 

The three of us had shrimp boiler bags that were all a little different. I like ordering take-out on DoorDash, because there are several options to choose from: 

-Laurent ate an all-shrimp boiler bag with mild garlic butter sauce 

-Florence ate a shrimp boiler bag with potatoes and corn on the cob in mild garlic butter sauce

-I ate a shrimp boiler bay 6 sections of spicy Louisiana sausage in mild garlic butter sauce 

Bag O’Crab cooks the shrimp in their shells for extra flavor and provides diners with plastic gloves to remove the shells. The flavor of the shrimp was briny and spicy without being hot. 

The strong spice mix paired well with Italian Peroni Nastro Azzurro lager beer on the cold day. 

After lunch, I took a nap with the window cracked to let in humid, cold air as I slept like a baby before setting up some lifelong learning projects for the 2026 New Year. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Mostly Meatless Italian Recipes from the Culinary Institute of America Cookbook by Ruth Paget

Mostly Meatless Italian Recipes from the Culinary Institute of America by Ruth Paget 

One of my treasured cookbooks is the Culinary Institute of America Cookbook for the home cook with over 375 recipes. The recipes represent the best multicultural recipes of New York and the Northeastern United States with many of Italian origin. 

I recently re-read this cookbook with any eye towards mostly meatless recipes to prepare for the 21st century with its issues of greater food insecurity even in the United States. I looked for recipes that I could build meals around that did not sacrifice protein, calcium, and iron despite greater vegetable intake.

I chose four sample mostly meatless recipes that are Italian, because I love Italian food. These recipes include: 

-lobster and prosciutto crostini 

Basically, a crostini hors d’oeuvres is a toasted baguette slice with a somewhat luxurious topping. 

In this recipe, the toasted crostini slice is spread with garlic butter and then goat cheese. A prosciutto slice is place on top of the goat cheese and thawed, cooked lobster goes on top of the crostini. For garnish, you place a sautéed sage leaf on top of the lobster.  

This lobster and prosciutto crostini would pair well with chardonnay wine or champagne. On the West Coast, you could replace lobster with Dungeness, if you cannot procure frozen, cooked lobster. 

-cannellini bean purée

I consider cannellini bean purée to be an Italian version of hummus. You can spread it on toast rounds as a crostini or use it as a dip for vegetables. 

The ingredient list for this recipe seems long, but most of the herbs called for will be tied in a cheese cloth that boils with the beans to season them. The cheese cloth and herbs are removed before puréeing the beans. Olive oil, lemon juice, and hot pepper sauce are mixed into the beans before serving. 

This bean spread on a crostini would look good with sautéed sage leaves on top.

-Panzanella – toasted bread and tomato salad 

Panzanella salad makes great use of hard, artisanal bread made without preservatives, usually called day old. There are three uses for this type of bread: 

-cut it into large, rectangular slices to dunk into soup 

-toast cubes of it to use like a crouton in Caesar salad 

-toast cubes of it and add tomato cubes and vinaigrette to it to make panzanella salad. (Slices of red onion go well with this salad, too.) 

-Spring Greens and Cannellini Bean Gratin 

For this recipe, you can use canned cannellini beans. To begin, you sauté the beans with tomatoes and vegetable broth. Then, you sauté Swiss chard or collard greens. The beans and greens are then mixed together in a baking dish with breadcrumbs placed on top before baking. (I like to add grated Parmesan cheese to the gratin for extra flavor.) 

There are many more mostly meatless recipes in The Culinary Institute of America Cookbook as well as pantry lists for setting up a European pantry focusing on ingredients for French, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine. This cookbook contains much knowledge that is still useful for 21st century concerns. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

The Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California does not offer complimentary breakfast. Instead, the hotel has an informal café where you can order small or large breakfast at a counter and pay according to what you order. 

Servers will bring items to your table and clear dishes.

I liked this arrangement, because I like large, warm American breakfasts when I travel. Laurent, on the other hand, prefers lighter fare like croissants, yogurt, and orange juice. Hotel Cerro can deliver both at the same time with Swiss aplomb. 

I ordered a twist on traditional Eggs Benedict called Cowboy Eggs Benedict. The twist in this dish is using a thick, black peppery sausage patty in place of Canadian bacon in this tasty breakfast sandwich. 

Aside from the sausage patty, the eggs Benedict was made the traditional way on a split, toasted English muffin with the sausage topped with a poached egg and lemony Hollandaise sauce. 

The Cowboy Eggs Benedict came with a generous helping of oven-baked, small new potatoes in their skins that were seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I dunked these in spicy Cholula sauce. 

I sipped American diner coffee with cream as I ate and liked the Western spin on the Eggs Benedict. 

The day I ate this breakfast it was rainy and cold, making the food especially flavorful. 

I like the breakfast dining arrangement at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California and thought the food was fresh and the service was quick. For a good breakfast before setting out touring or driving home, it was perfect. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Morro Bay Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget

Raw Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget 

On our family mini recharge trip to San Luis Obispo, California, we returned to Salinas via a side trip to Morro Bay for lunch at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant. (The Tognazzini’s also run a fishing company located on the dock outside the restaurant.) 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I began our meal with six raw Morro Bay oysters. I squirted lemon juice on mine and ate a few with cocktail sauce and creamy, grated horseradish. I love cold, briny raw oysters, but recognize that not everyone likes them despite the quality. For me, however, our New Year’s Eve meal was off to a great start despite the rainy, cold weather. 

While we were eating, Tognazzini’s fishermen were hauling in 4-feet flatfish and weighing them outside our window on the dock as mealtime entertainment. Tognazzini prides itself on boat-to-table cuisine. They even claim they can provide the boat name and captain’s name for your fish order. 

As our main dish, Laurent and I ordered the Mariner Salad that you can add a variety of fish and seafood to as protein ranging from shrimp to salmon. Laurent chose this and ordered Dungeness crab as our shellfish protein since the end of December is in Dungeness crab season. (Florence ordered the calamari and chips plate.) 

I grew up living on salads in Detroit, Michigan where I ate Greek salads in Greek town at least once a week and Cobb salads at Syros Restaurant around the corner from my apartment building about twice a month. Seafood salads were a treat I could order at Lelli’s Restaurant when I was taken there by my mother and babysitters.  I love salads in general and view seafood salads as a great treat.

The Mariner salad at Tognazzini’s features a bed of baby greens and seasonal vegetables. The seasonal vegetables for Californian winter included boiled beet slices, a neat pile of perfectly cut tomato cubes, cucumber slices, grated carrots, slices of red onions, and another neat pile of crumbled blue cheese. I ate my salad with house made blue cheese dressing and thought I had an outstanding finish to my recharge mini trip in San Luis Obispo County. 

We drove over the mountains from Morro Bay to Paso Robles and enjoyed viewing the rural landscape dotted with longhorn cattle, furry sheep, black and white goats, reddish-brown Swiss cows, and horse farms. The vineyards were empty of leaves with vines pruned back for winter. 

Back in Salinas, we ordered Gino’s mushroom and cheese artisanal pizza and drank champagne with it to ring in the New Year all refreshed from outstanding, Italian seafood meals in San Luis Obispo County. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France